$1,263,099,500 spent on lobbying the Executive Branch and the Congress

[Robbien]

for just the first six months of 2006.

Over a billion spent on lobbying congresscritters for just half a year :wow:


Top ten:

1. US TELECOM ASSN $15,280,000
2. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE US $14,300,000
3. AARP $12,120,000
4. NATL ASSN OF REALTORS $10,380,000
5. NATL ASSN OF MANUFACTURERS (NAM) $9,600,000
6. PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH & MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA (PHRMA) $9,260,000
7. US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INST FOR LEGAL REFORM $9,220,000
8. AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSN (AMA) $8,940,000
9. NORTHROP GRUMMAN $8,895,500
10. GENERAL ELECTRIC $8,420,000





http://www.politicalmoneyline.com/cgi-win/lp_sector.exe?DoFn=my&Year=06

[Marblehead]

1. this should be criminal

we need election reform badly, shut down k street.

[LaPera]

2. It is morally criminal...Corporations should NOT be allowed to donate money

or give money through lobbying...it should, as it once was be against the law...How could yours or my interest be considered when a corporation is giving billions of dollars away only for their interest and profit...How can the middle class and workers rights be considered, who cares about them when the corporate money is flowing...what about the people who don't have that kind of money....as the republicans ideology sees it we are only workers to be used and ripped-off for and by the same lobbying corporations...money is their god and corporations through lobbying has the money...Can't even get a measly minimum wage through because of these sickening corporate lobbyist and their republican promoters.

[Octafish]

3. ROI

In Return On their Investments:

Corporations pay little if any tax.
Stockholders pay less and less in capital gains taxes.
Financial powerhouses shaft the little guy.
Corporations feed at the government trough.
Big private sector jobs await servile public servants after their public careers end.
Big Medicine keeps healthcare a big business.
Military Industrial Complex grows stronger and stronger with no end in site, no Cold War or War on Terra.
Etc. Etc.

It all adds up to Reverse Robin Hood.